The Hidden Diamonds
by SilverDiamonds
Summary: After surviving in the Glade and rescued by an unknown group of people, the Gladers are convinced that the 'safe house' they are in isn't one that is safe, but one that is the total opposite. Trapped, they find ways to escape into the wilderness, which is just as dangerous as the safe house.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi, this is my other story I'm writing right now. So I'll just switch between those I'm writing. :) And it's SYOC. More info is at the end of this part.**

[Marius' POV]

You must think that I'm the most self-centered boy out there. The guy who thinks only of himself. I won't even try to defend myself after what happened last night. I might have thought it was a good idea at the time, but right now, I wish I could turn back the clock and rethink my choices.

Maybe my punishment right now was to have the same, recurring nightmare - a replay of the terrible decision I'd made.

" _One more! These vines can only take the weight of one more person." Jason shouted, waving his free arm at the bunch of about ten of us stranded at the opposite wall which was starting to crumble._

 _I was one of those few hopelessly trying to balance on the slowly disintegrating pile of schist which was a pathetic excuse of a wall under my feet._

 _We stared at each other for a moment. These people...I didn't know them all to well, seeing that I'd only been here for maybe two weeks tops? But even in that short time, I'd made friends with lots of them. I wasn't ready to let them die just like that._

" _C'mon!" Jason yelled again. "It won't hold for long!"_

 _Even as he spoke, the thick green branches were pulled taut. Some of them were snapping under the weight of six boys._

 _I looked back at the other Gladers who were now arguing amongst themselves on who should make that leap to safety. They were all urging their friends to go without them. They were so brave, and selfless. I watched, as if in a daze as the cracks drove deeper beneath us...as the wall started to lean dangerously to one side._

 _I knew there was only one thing I could do. I had to get out. There was only enough space for one more person, and I knew I had to do it._

 _A coward's move. A totally selfish move. But at that very moment, my body acted on its own._

 _Leaving the other Gladers to their discussion which would very soon be irrelevant, I took two paces backwards, tensed up my muscles, and took a running jump._

 _For that few seconds, it was as if time slowed down. There I was, suspended in mid air, arms reaching out to grasp the vines for a firm handhold. From the corner of my eyes, I saw the remainder of my Glader friends staring at my back. I saw the wall that they were balancing on the edge, leaning a little too far. The Gladers stranded there lost their balance, one by one slipping and falling into the dark abyss._

 _The feeling of sudden guilt was the last thing I remembered as I held onto the branches, my life depending just on a string. But worst of all was the look of disappointment on those Gladers that made it out along with me. They never said anything about what happened at that moment, but I could a slight change in the way they treated me after that._

This led me to have that feeling of being shunned, which made me just creep around the corridors and hopefully find something I could use to get out of this box-like building they said would keep us safe from the 'dangers outside'.

Well, I didn't actually trust them. I felt that they were keeping things from me - from us, the Gladers who were lucky enough to escape from the maze alive. I wanted to find out, so I ended up learning the times they came to our rooms to check on us.

There was ten minutes left before they would come to the room. I had to get back quick, but the direction I had to go was filled with footsteps. And they were coming my way.

I hid down a small corner as they walked past. "The hidden diamonds are the only way to cure the world of its sickness. You see, anyone who survived the Glade could easily be the one who's hiding them. They might survive because if they died, the diamonds would be revealed."

"So you're saying that one of them is hiding the diamonds. Or at least know the location of it."

When they passed, I stood up and caught a glimpse of greying hair and a recognisable jacket before I ran back to my room.

 **Aaa thanks guys! By the way this is co-written with PercyJacksonAlways and just go check out their stories (they're really awesome okay)**

 **This is the form for your OCs. Please only submit 1 per person so there's enough for everyone and submissions only by PM :)**

 **I'll only be picking 5 OCs out of all the submissions. This is not first-come-first-serve, so make sure your OC is better and I'll pick it :) The form is also on my profile.**

 **OC Form:**

 **Name:**

 **Age (between 12-19):**

 **Gender?:**

 **Godly parent:**

 **Appearance:**

 **Faceclaim:**

 **Clothes:**

 **Personality:**

 **Fatal flaw:**

 **Strengths:**

 **Weaknesses:**

 **Fears:**

 **How does he/she get along with the others?:**

 **Romance (if any):**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks guys for following :) There'll be an A/N at the bottom but I'll say that later. First you can read this part.**

[Nea Whitley's POV]

This place was getting creepy enough. They had cameras all around, including officers literally watching us through that little peephole in the doors of our rooms. I was quite sure that there were many more hidden ones in the walls. The mirror in our room could be one-way.

But I didn't try anything yet, since they gave us food, so we didn't need to grow and pick our own food, compared to the Glade. Yeah, that place was plain horrible. People kept insisting on teamwork, and that independence would kill them all. But it's not like I listened to any of them.

One day I knew I would be separated from them. And when I did, it wasn't going to be easy if I got attached to them. Even it was happening right now, just as I had expected. Complete disagrees on my opinions. Without even at least thinking about it. I thought I was left to myself, so I stopped telling them whatever I found out. Anyway it was their loss if they didn't know anything.

I figured there would be sensors on the doors too, to track where we were going. I had calculated that if I made sure I spent enough time _around_ , outside the room, finding stuff out, I would be able to find out enough information to allow me to survive outside this safe house.

The first floor was the floor that was the most difficult to navigate. The pipes turned around corners, making me feel disoriented. But I focused on which way I took, hiding between cables and pipes, listening to two men speaking to each other.

"I think we've located one," the first man said. He was slightly taller than the other, grey hairs sprouting from his mess of black hair.

"Where is it?" Genuine interest. I recognised his voice as the person who brought us into the safe house. Heck, I'd already forgotten his name. Something about artefacts, but why would I be bothered to remember?

I was having trouble keeping up with them in my half-walking, half-crawling form, but luckily they stopped. But the unlucky thing was, one of them said, "There's maintenance in the pipes at night?"

 _Damn_ , I thought while kicking myself mentally. _They heard me!_

I forced myself to keep out of view as I spotted their feet pointing in my direction.

"I think it's just a drip you heard," the other said. "It'll be fixed in the morning."

Their feet turned away from me and they walked past another row of pipes before entering a door. I wanted to catch the door and hold it open for a tiny crack just to hear what they were talking about, since out of four days I stayed in the safe house, I had not gotten something so useful. I rushed forward, kicking off from a pipe before accidentally bumping into someone's feet.

The person stumbled, but regained his balance fast. "What are you doing here?" he said while pulling me up by my collar.

"Nonono, I was just finding a toilet, and I figured it would be on the first level so everyone would have access to it."

He stared at my sweating forehead. _He knows I'm lying since I'm sweating real bad_. "And your heaters are really warm, you should cool them down a bit."

"You know, I really like how your pipes are arranged, so it's easy to find which one goes where," I continued, buying time to think of a plan. "Not saying I like the aesthetics, but I've never seen one so neat and-"

He didn't say anything, but just pulled me along the corridor into another turn.

I spotted another guy, but I recognised him as the one who arrived two days ago. I think he was Marius. Desperate to get his and the officer's attention on each other, I kicked him hard on the shin before turning my head away as if I didn't do anything.

"Ow!" He shouted before realising he had caught the attention of the officer. "Oh."

That worked. Now that the officer had him too, it would be easier to say that he was the one causing trouble and I had just happened to be at the wrong place. Or maybe getting lost. Same thing. But he'll have to explain everything. I would be safe.

As we were dragged into the office, I noticed someone there already. The grey-haired man sat at the table, and looked up in mild surprise at us. I was wondering how he got here when I was sure he went into another room.

"Hello," he said to Marius.

 _Wait for the chance…_ I told myself. _He's not yet noticing you._

"And you are…?" He asked me.

"Nea." There was no point lying. It would get me into much more trouble compared to what I was already in.

"I wasn't doing anything," Marius cut in. "Just lemme get back to the room and sleep, okay?"

"No, you see-"

"Just let me go back to the room."

"Will you stop repeating- You know I won't-"

"Ugh! Dammit! Goodbye!" Marius stood up suddenly and went to the door, swinging it open. I rushed after him, shoving him out of the way just before the guard caught up with me. I ran up the stairs three at a time, before opening and slamming the room door and jumping up to my bunk, waking everyone in the room up.

Just after that, I heard the door being locked from the outside. _Nea,_ I thought, _you're in some really deep shit._

 **Okay, okay, I know, it's short, but really. It seemed like a good idea to stop here innit? Nevermind.**

 **So basically I still need a female OC to be submitted. I'll be so happy if you can just take the time to PM me one. :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Yay! Fast update!**

 **I had to say I was feeling motivated to write this part. Even though I was scared I'll go too much OOC, it was fun.**

[Redford's POV]

It's not like I wanted anything to do with sneaking or anything, but I had regretted it since I poked my head out of my room door. Look, the noise was coming from the one on the left, but they just _had_ to come to this one. How unfair was that? As if they were _always_ correct.

Those guys were weird. Busting into the room asking for a guy named Marius. And when everyone said we never heard of him, they promised they would ask us again the next day. I was so going to find out who this guy was, and make him pay for it.

I was tired. But I couldn't sleep now. My mind was having a war with itself. I knew this place was not what they say it was. I didn't see why they wanted to keep us in. I was sure there weren't 'the dangers outside' they spoke of. I wanted so bad to find out what they were hiding from us.

I poked at my food with the fork and listened to the latest rumours about what was outside this safe house.

"Some zombie-like people-looking things that eat you," someone said dramatically.

"And we have proof!" Another piped up.

"He said it," the first one pointed at Pitcher, the guy who brought us into the safe house. This reminded me. He was 'going to talk to us' later. No, seriously? All because of a guy whom he got pissed at?

I rolled my eyes at the thought.

That was annoying. It was even more unreasonable back at the Glade, and I figured out that maybe me was just going to ask us if we saw anything and claim that his officers were too rude. And if I was lucky enough, I might just be able to ask him what was outside the safe house.

It seemed like a plan, the very first one I had since I reached this building. Even though it seemed unlikely that it would succeed perfectly, a plan was better than no plan.

Then, I noticed everyone stop talking at once. They were all staring at Pitcher and I did too.

"Now, listen up!" Pitcher said loudly.

We sat up in anticipation.

"When I call your name, you will come over to this side of the wall. Everyone clear? You'll come here in groups of four."

"Where will you take us?" A girl asked. She was the youngest in the whole group of us sitting at the table.

"Somewhere where we can get to know you better, and you'll help the world. Now, listen carefully."

 _Not me,_ I desperately hoped. _I haven't thought through my plan!_

"Marius Evans!"

No answer. Not a single person moved.

"We'll get back to that later," he continued, "Nea Whitley!"

A blonde-haired girl stepped up. She looked about 17. Her hair was tied messily like she hadn't bothered to re-tie it since the night before.

"Redford Covington!" I looked up in shock. His searching eyes met mine before his turned back to his folded piece of paper.

 _This is bad,_ the voice in my head said. _This is bad! It's bad luck when you're called first. You don't even know what to expect!_

I went and stood at the wall beside her. There would be one more person being called.

"Scarlett Johnson! And thank you all for your attention, you can go back to your breakfast."

A girl with wavy blonde hair and electric blue eyes stood up from the crow which started chattering again. She turned away from her friends at her table. I saw the people who had been sitting next to me have the egg which was untouched on my plate.

"Egg is good," they said.

 _Egg is good_ , my mind repeated, wanting to worry less on where we were being taken. As I followed Pitcher into the corridor behind, I overheard his conversation with the guard.

"Find Marius. He must come for today's session."

'Today's session'? What were going to do during that 'session'? My mind erupted into chaos like the crowd in the canteen. _Please, don't let it be related to sneaking._

I followed Pitcher in silence as he led us to a door right in the middle of a wall. That was so strange. But he swung the door open, pausing a little to let us in before closing and locking it.

"You're in luck. We can't start this session unless Marius is here," Pitcher said. He then left the guard with us before leaving the room.

 _Please, whoever you are, if you stay hidden so that I get more days to think this plan, I won't kill you._

Just...no.

"If we're having a session, who wouldn't have chairs?" I heard the girl Nea say to nobody in particular.

"Come on, since you're _so smart_ , you'll have the mental capacity to think it all out, right?" Scarlett said.

"And since you're so _chill_ , 'just relax and wait for the opportune moment', am I correct?"

I leaned my head back in a corner listening to their arguments. Right now, their argument was pointless. It should be what we could do to get out of this situation.

"Guys, do you know what actually he wants with us?" I interrupted their debate.

"He...he wanted a session!" Scarlett said immediately.

"You really wanna know?" Nea said. I nodded.

"Basically, that old guy who brought us here - saw me sneaking around last night. He wanted to talk to me, but I ran away. And Marius too. But you know why I was listening to him? This safe house isn't what we think it is. It's not really a 'safe' house. More like a place where they hurt you." Nea paused.

"So it's you who caused all these trouble! Making noises like that and getting me into trouble. You're the reason why all of us are-" I was stopped by a boot noise somewhere to my right.

 _Okay, chill, Red._

"You're the reason why all of us are in this room. Whatever he does to us, it's all your fault," I said much more calmly.

"Redford-"

"No, Red."

"Fine. Anyway, we're all in this together," Nea tried to sound certain, but I could hear quavering in her voice. "And when we're together, we get out together."

 **Character credits to AceSeesYouuu :)**

 **And I'm gonna tell you first, the next update isn't gonna be that fast. Okay?**


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay guys, I have to say, I might have bluffed a bit on the last chapter. Okay. So here's your Chapter 4.**

[Scarlett's POV]

Red was only listening to Nea. Not me. I wanted to be heard. I wanted to be heard - for once. Just maybe this time, since ideas were so crucial, but Nea was getting all the attention. None of them was coming to me, except Red's occasional glance in my direction.

This was getting annoying. They could just have told me what was wrong with my idea, but they just ignored it. And Nea - she was getting on my nerves. Showing that she was smarter than me and that she knew more about what was happening.

It was _her_ idea to go sneaking around at night. _She_ had caused Red and I to be stuck in this mess. And if I didn't do anything soon, Marius and Pitcher would come, and we'll all be dead - figuratively or literally.

There were footsteps in the doorway.

 _Think of something, quick!_ I forced my brain to work, but it just couldn't. We were losing seconds.

"Guys," I said, "Run."

That worked. They didn't hesitate to knock out the guard near the door. They stood behind the door, waiting for the click sound of the lock.

 _Click._

Red, being the one nearest to Pitcher punched him in the face and ran out into the long corridor, followed by Nea. But I couldn't just follow them. I grabbed Marius' wrist and chased them.

"This place isn't safe! We need to get out," I heard Nea shout five metres in front of me. Without saying anything, I pressed on, scrambling to avoid random boxes in the corners. Marius was running by himself now. He twisted his hand out of my palms.

I followed Red and Nea without thinking, as they grabbed a pack each near the doors of the safe house. I watched as Nea pulled down a lever and turned it, using the hydraulic motors to open the metal doors.

I grabbed packs and followed them out into the open.

The cold air was really cold. There was snow on the far side, and I was hoping that they would just follow the path that had no snow. But they instead rushed up to the higher part, where the snow was knee-deep. My shoes turned wet.

Why didn't I just stay in the safe house? It could be safe after all. But seeing as I had told them to run, I just couldn't turn back. Not now. Not when they were still after us. Not when we were so close to escaping.

We came close to a old mall near the safe house. I knew that we were leaving footprints that would lead the guards to the mall, but there was no time to think. We were still pretty close to the safe house, and anyone could have easily followed us here.

We paused for a minute or two to check what was in our packs. Each of us had a flask full of water, a torch, and a ton of rope. I didn't know what the rope was for, but no sweaters or food. We were _so_ dead.

 _There's always a solution to everything_ , my mind reminded me. I took my pack and walked to the nearest shop, and found a handgun on the floor. It looked strangely familiar, then I realised it was a handgun from the safe house.

I had seen the police using it in the safe house to threaten the people like us. I took it and shoved it into my pack. I wouldn't know when I would need it. I moved on to the next shop - an electronics shop.

I tried to find any signal, but there was none. I guessed that the rest of the area was as deserted as the mall. Who would operate the signals?

I realised I was wandering further from where we came from, but I still wanted to find out where we were. This mall was the answer to so many of our questions. I simply couldn't let the chance slip.

A scrape was heard right behind me.

Gasping, I turned, holding out my hands in defence, but there was no need for it. It was only Nea.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

She handed me a sweater. It looked really old and dusty, but it was still a sweater. I was freezing, so I put it on without complaint.

"Just watch out. I heard that there are things that are alive here," she warned.

"Yeah okay," I said as a movement caught the corner of my eye. I whispered, "Did you see that?"

"Yeah," she nodded and took out a sharp knife. I was going to question her on where she got that, but another one caught my eye.

We froze.

I saw Nea's eyes darting from pillar to pillar. I saw her trying to calm her breathing. I grabbed a couple of scissors from the table near me.

This was going to be scary. I braced myself.

A growl. A zombie leapt at us. I swung the scissors. It crumpled lifelessly on the floor.

"They know where we are! Quick, get back!" Nea said urgently.

We took off in the direction of where we thought Marius and Red were, but we couldn't find them.

"Oh shit…" Nea said.

Without thinking, I shouted, "MARIUS-"

"OI! Will you stop giving away our position?" Nea elbowed me.

I winced. "Now's not the time to think so much."

"That's when you only care about getting back to Marius, right?" Nea shoved her knife in a zombie's throat.

Seeing that if I didn't stop, I might get impaled like the zombie, I decided to let the topic drop and concentrate on surviving.

We worked pretty well with each other until her hand decided to get in the way of my scissors. The cut wasn't very deep, but it covered quite a large area and there was blood.

We ran into the nearest first-aid shop and took some bandages. But we were getting further from the only exit we knew. For all we know we might just be going deeper into a dead-end.

We caught sight of a familiar figure. Two, in fact. I realised it was Marius and Red. They were holding off the zombies quite well, but I could see they were becoming tired.

I left Nea and rushed forward, clearing some zombies on the way. I was so relieved, but it doesn't end just yet.

There were still zombies to deal with.

 **Character credits: AwesomeGirl909**

 **Really, I'm not lying now. The next update** ** _won't_** **be tomorrow. Don't keep your hopes up because I haven't even thought out what I want them to do in the next chapter.**


	5. Chapter 5

**This is so cool, okay. I thought I needed more time, but no. So I guess I get my ideas quickly? I'm not really sure if I got all the characters properly in this chapter, though.**

[Marius' POV]

"Where do you think we should go?" Scarlett asked.

"To hide, I guess." I glanced at Red and Nea who were discussing on what was the fastest way to get out of the mall, but they kept opposing each other's ideas. We needed to hurry. There was just too many zombies.

You would think it would be easy killing those zombies, but it wasn't. There were hundreds of them, maybe even thousands, including those who were hiding in the shops, making no noise. They were fast. And their actions were erratic and hard to anticipate.

I didn't know what Red was doing, but it seemed to reduce the number of zombies coming his way. There were one or two, but they were mostly strays.

Just then, I decapitated the last zombie.

Scarlett ran a hand between her hair and sighed.

My hands had zombie blood on them. Ew.

"Why don't we just get outta here as fast as we can? Seems like a good idea right now," Red said. He was staring at something behind me, and his mouth slightly agape.

I turned.

"That works too," I hurried all of them in the opposite direction.

There was a big group of them. All running at us. Why hadn't they come earlier?

"Those things can _think_!" Nea shouted in fear.

They were closing the distance between us and our feet shuffled back, before all of us scrambled to turn into the next corridor. _If they were coming at us from the other side...please let us go first._

But hoping was no use. We could only rely on our speed as we sped past shops after shops…

"Left side!" Nea screamed as a zombie appeared on our right, stumbling over its legs. A few more appeared after that, and more. The number of zombies seemed to be multiplying, and soon we would get tired. We had to find somewhere to hide. Soon.

Somewhere that they can't find us.

I followed them blindly as I thought. To hide, we had to get their attention off us. But there were four of us, not just one. We couldn't just throw something and sneak off in the other direction.

Those zombies...they weren't like humans. They didn't think the same way, they had no morals, and I was pretty sure that they didn't know what they even were or what they were doing. They just chased and killed humans without much thinking. And that was considering they actually thought.

I realised I was the last one of the group. That meant wherever 'safe place' they were going, I would still be the one nearest to the zombies. But that didn't make any sense, since we were on the fourth level, and we were running up the stairs.

 _Seriously, what_ grand plan _did Nea think of now?_

I hoped that they were actually getting everyone safe, and not using me as a distraction for the zombies as they ran and hid.

After much panting, shouting and heavy breathing, we reached the top of the stairs. I didn't even know how here was considered 'safe'. It was the rooftop. And technically, if the zombies came up here, we would be more cornered than just now.

"This…doesn't work." I said lamely to break the awkward silence and the stares between us.

"Who thought of coming up?" Scarlett said. There was a hint of anger in her voice, but she tried to hide it. "We're all cornered now. We don't have anywhere to run."

"We do." Red corrected, and pointed a finger across. There was a stretch of buildings everywhere, leading us further from the safe house. "Nea, you were really right."

"Told ya."

"What's that even supposed to mean?" I grumbled. I wasn't even going to understand them, if at all.

"We jump across. If they get us now, they can't get us because they can't jump," Red said.

"And then we'll be safe. Ta-da," Nea said.

I took a moment to understand this. It seemed logical, but it didn't sound certain. But my thinking process was cut off by the sound of a growl, and a scratch. And knocks coming from the direction of the iron door to the rooftop. I had barred it just after I reached, and that, I thought, was a good idea.

The pounding was getting relentless. I turned to see if they were coming, hopefully not. But they seemed to be super-strong or something, since there were dents appearing on the door.

Red signaled to me to follow him as he took a running jump and landed on the side of the building, hands gripping the edge of the ledge. He swung his legs over a window and pulled himself into the building.

From where I was, my legs kicked up and I ran forward. This seemed easy. But my thoughts changed once I was in the air. I thought, _what if I missed?_

But the flying feeling was only for a second as my outstretched hands reached the ledge and held there.

The upper hinge of the door broke and clattered to the ground. I saw Nea immediately sprint forward, her right leg kicking away from the edge of the mall rooftop…

The metal door bending as the pounds ceased and the zombies rushed out with grabbing hands…

Scarlett turning only to realise that Nea was in the way…

But she took the jump anyway, reaching for the ledge too.

I silently hoped for Nea to realise that and move, but I couldn't say anything. My voice was taken away as I stared in dread.

Something really bad was going to happen. Like, right...now.

All those thoughts gushed into my mind like a tsunami on land. I saw Nea grabbing the ledge, but she accidentally knocks Scarlett off.

Scarlett's hand misses the ledge by an inch. She slips downwards, her hands reaching out for something - anything - to stop her fall.

But Nea was quick. She grabbed Scarlett's wrist, and Scarlett was hanging there - not really out of danger. Her feet were too far away from the ledge below to safely drop there.

Desperately, I began pulling Nea as her fingers were slipping off the ledge. When I grabbed hold of Scarlett, she rolled onto the ledge, breathing heavily.

We were - kinda - safe, other than the fact that there was likely zombies in the building we were in too. The four of us entered through the window as silently as we could, but I still thought we were making much noise. From the scrapes of our shoes on the dusty floor to the loud sighs of fatigue.

We dragged ourselves through some apartments and found ourselves in a place where another building had collapsed into the one we were in. We could see into it, and all its stairs were slanted along with the building.

I heard a screech.

Scarlett was pointing in the direction we had come from.

And guess what I saw? You wouldn't even believe.

 _Those zombies actually think_ , I concluded. They were making a bridge out of themselves, although many of them were falling onto the floor below and dying. They were climbing on top of each other, without any order, but those lucky ones were coming in our way.

"Oh man, can't we just get some rest for today?"

 **Hah got you a lil' cliffy down there. But till then, just wait for it :)**

 **Just to let you know, I won't be writing in order of the OCs every time. Maybe after this it wouldn't be Red, but I'm just saying I'll be changing around. And please tell me if your OC is not getting enough attention, or action, or other stuff that doesn't always start with an 'a'.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay. Here's the chapter ya'll are waiting for :)**

[Redford's POV]

"Will - you - stop - trying to - eat me!" I shouted in exasperation as I tried to keep those zombies from reaching me. I was slowly backing up the stairs, and I couldn't see the rest of the people who came with me.

We haven't even rested in two days, yet we still had to fight off those zombie-like monster-things. And as Marius had told me earlier, those things actually _thought_. Like he guessed they knew what they were doing, but I didn't entirely agree with him either.

But what got me into this mess was myself. I highly doubted that me, being alone, was because of anyone else. I tried distracting them from me, by crashing some items behind them, but only half of them went to check it out, before realising that there were no treats for them and turned on me again.

I jumped down the flight of stairs onto the 12th floor. It was empty, except for glass doors, glass shards and glass pieces all laid on the ground. I hoped the soles of my shoes were thick enough to protect me from the shards on the floor as I ran in that direction, hoping to trip some zombies.

It didn't work work. I had forgotten that they couldn't feel any pain. They continued chasing after me, spattering bloody footprints on the white marble-tiled floor.

I slid down a ramp, the glass shards stuck on my shoes reducing the friction by a lot. I was thankful for choosing a pair of thick-soled shoes back in the safe house.

I was running closer towards the building in front of me. If I jumped high enough, I would be able to slip in just fine.

I pushed my feet harder against the ground, hoping that there was still enough friction to propel me far enough.

 _This is gonna be crazy._

I jumped and curled my feet under my body, so that I was flying through the air like a cannonball. My butt hit the inner wall of the leaning building. Was I safe? I thought I was, other than the fact that I was sliding down the elevator shaft. My feet landed on another ledge as I stopped my falling.

I heard screams from under my feet and I looked down. Nea, Marius and Scarlett were all there, but they were shouting at me, "Red, you brought them here!"

Nea was pointing at something above and I looked up. The zombies were falling too.

"Everyone, hold on!" Nea shouted upwards as she took out a handgun she had found in the mall.

I pressed myself against the grimy walls of the elevator shaft and slowly slid down the thick cables to the level Nea was on.

With Marius' concerted effort, we managed to pry open the lift doors and slipped into the house. Scarlett and Nea followed after, sinking down onto the floor in exhaustion and relief.

We made sure that the house was completely zombie-proof, and sat down to rest. The sun was rising, but we didn't bother. I took first watch as they slept on the floor.

As I stared into the horizon, hoping to see any signs of human life, I heard the sound of a helicopter flying somewhere far away. I tried to look for it, and found a not-too-small dot in the sky.

I squinted and realised that it was the helicopter. Shaking Nea awake, I told her that someone was coming.

It seemed subtle at first, but Nea was immediately awake and was on high alert.

"They've found us!" She said in a whisper. "Hide!"

I woke the others, doing the least I could, but the building had mostly glass. I guess it was supposed to be a luxurious one, since there was a lot of glass doors. But this was totally against what we were supposed to do. They would be here in no time.

The big dot in the distance could be recognised as a helicopter in no time.

I saw Nea making her way towards the windows.

"They can see us!" I warned her, but she took no heed.

She raised her handgun.

The first shot brought the window shattering onto the floor.

The second one made the zombies growl, and the bullet bounced off harmlessly off the hull of the helicopter.

Nea, in a shooting position now, took careful aim before firing bullet after bullet, until the helicopter tilted dangerously and caught fire.

"Wow," I said. "That's cool."

"I'm impressed, too," Nea stated.

"I guess that's it, then?"

"Nah," Nea said and pointed at the ground. I came over and saw Pitcher and his team hurrying down from the remnants of what was left of the helicopter into the nearest building.

They must've been messing with the signals in the building as the overhead speakers crackled to life.

 _Don't try to run now, we have the place surrounded._

I stared in their direction and saw Pitcher looking at me.

 _We can have our session like that, if you wish. Let me ask you a question._

I turned to look at Nea as she looked as if she would set the whole building on fire.

 _Do you know anything about the Diamonds?_

"Seriously? What kind of question is that?" I thought out loud.

"Shhh," Nea shushed. "The speakers are two-way. They can hear what we say."

 _Smart girl…so I can assume you know where the Diamonds are?_

"In the ground, duh," she said.

A bullet came sailing through the smashed glass and embedded itself into the ceiling.

"Okay, okay. You mean any diamonds or like _the_ Diamond with a big 'd'? Because I seriously don't know what you're talking about." Nea waited for the next shot, but it never came.

 _The Diamonds! Don't you_ ever _hear of it?_ The voice paused. _Nea and Marius…you know the power of the Diamonds!_

"Being able to cure the world from something?" Marius suggested.

"From a sickness. Of sorts," Nea added.

 _Yes, that's right!_

"So you wanna find them," Nea concluded.

 _Obviously. So do you know the location of these Diamonds?_

I saw Nea turn to Marius. Their eyes connected for a moment, but not too long, just enough for both of them to agree on a silent plan.

 _Where are the Diamonds?_

"We don't know. We just know they exist," Marius said.

"And we don't really plan on finding them. I guess the world's alright?" Nea said uncertainly.

"I guess you can find those yourself."

"I really like your shoes," Nea finished.

 _Don't mess with me, girl. Tell me where the Diamonds are!_

"We can't tell you anything, since we don't know anything!" Nea said with a raised voice. "Will you just believe us for once?!"

The last words that came out of the speakers sent adrenaline through my veins even though I hadn't slept.

 _Fire at will._

"Oh _shit_! Nea, will you just stop getting everybody killed?" Scarlett shouted and ran towards the stairs.

Then, the shots were fired.

 **I seriously have nothing else to say except the 'eeeek that's a big cliffy at the end'. Okay. Bye.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Here's a fast update so you don't need to keep dying inside from that HUGE cliffy I had in the previous chapter.**

[Red's POV]

You might think I had a somewhat complete plan for a situation like this, but all that was in my brain was 'OH SHIT DON'T DIE!'

It wasn't easy avoiding the crashing glass already. But I had failed to expect that Pitcher would be already one step ahead. Those sliding doors were left intact. Why?

I found the answer seconds after.

They were the ones between us, as in Nea and I, and the stairs. There was no escape, unless I could break the doors, which was unlikely to be done in such a short time. My mind was reeling as I pushed, but the doors wouldn't open.

"Pitcher, what do you want?" I shouted angrily at the speaker.

 _Well, well, we're gonna have some fun with your friends, aren't we?_

I mentally braced myself to hearing what he was going to say next. I hoped Marius and Scarlett was hearing this. Whether we got out or not, would most likely be their choice.

 _We seem to be in a pretty interesting position here… Tell us where the Diamonds are or we'll explode the building. That'll mean that your friends go, and you live without them, or you tell us where they are and you might just get your friends back._

There was silence. The running footsteps ceased as the words sunk in. I saw Marius slowly step up onto the level.

"The first Diamond…is the Diamond of Concealment," Marius said slowly, making eye contact with Nea.

"This Diamond conceals anything when its power is called upon, but only certain people have the ability to use its power," Nea continued.

How did they know all this? Were they keeping it from me all along? I would have to ask Nea later… I wanted to listen to the conversation.

Pitcher went quiet, like he was deciding if Nea and Marius were telling him the truth.

 _See? Now we're talking. Tell me about it._

"These Diamonds were made by a certain group of people. Namely, the Greek gods," Nea said.

"They made sure that only their descendants could use it, so they cursed every mortal who tried to use it."

 _That is the point. What if I said you are demigods?_

"That'll mean that we can use the Diamonds."

"Wait, you're saying that we're demigods?" Marius said.

 _Exactly. Only the four of you can use those diamonds. Come down here, and we'll tell you how._

Silence lingered in the air as everyone's mind was struggling to make any sense out of what Pitcher had said. But it was too late when they made their decision.

A strong hand was swung in my direction and I fell to the ground. Just before I blacked out, I saw Nea looking in my direction.

[Nea's POV]

I heard pounding on a hard surface. I couldn't feel anything. I opened my eyes just to see white. I was lying on a hard surface, probably brought here when I was unconscious.

Someone had hastily did the job, since I could still feel the knife tucked in my pocket. Shifting my position to look around, I realised there was a door on my right, but it was locked as I inferred from Red's continuous rattles on the doorknob.

Voices outside. Distinct voices as I sat up and put my ear to the wall. Someone was talking.

I shushed Red and heard again. This time, I could make out some words.

The recognisable voice of Pitcher, Marius and Scarlett could be heard. This was made easier by their raised voices. They seemed to be arguing.

"Look, those Diamonds don't work like that! You'll have to say the correct thing," Scarlett shouted. I guessed it was at Pitcher.

"Then what? Since you know that's the wrong way, do it the _right_ way!" Pitcher demanded.

I could feel the mental eyerolls that they were doing at Pitcher.

I heard Scarlett say, "Unconceal and we can find, let what we see shine."

That didn't sound at all nice. Yeah, it rhymed and all, but then when she said it, there was sort of a creepy timbre to it.

I heard thunder rumbling outside, followed by a gasp of astonishment.

At that moment, the doorknob unlocked and we went out just to be greeted by a sight that was purely strange.

The three of them were sitting at a table, not talking, just looks of shock and astonishment on their faces. They were all staring at a tiny diamond, about the size of a small button.

"We're keeping that," Scarlett decided. She grabbed the diamond off the table during the stunned moment of silence.

Before Pitcher could recover from his shock, Red hurried us in the other direction as Pitcher sat in his chair gasping.

"Who told you about the Diamonds? How did you know so much? You've got a lot of explaining to do," Red told them. These were the questions I figured he had all along wanted to know the answers.

"I - I don't know…" Scarlett trailed off. "It came in a dream. All three of us. I'm sure you would know too if you had slept, but you were keeping watch."

"Well, we found it. No time to wait. The news would get back, I'm sure, and we have to find the rest before they do. In the dream, it said 'when six are together, the owner shall have complete power over all the elements of the Earth'. Namely fire, water, air, earth and light," I said.

"I'm guessing that this one that we've found reveals the rest?" Marius asked.

"That's why there're six instead of five!" I said excitedly. "Now we just need to call on the rest of them."

"But we don't know anything," Scarlett reasoned. I saw her hand slip into her pocket, and dropped the diamond in. "Oh wait…what's this in my pocket?"

Scarlett pulled out a crumpled slip of paper from her pocket and flattened it against a wall. She turned the paper and her eyes widened.

"What is it?" I asked.

 **Sorry for the short chapter. I really had to stop here right now since it'll be hard to stop once I continue.**

 **Too bad I didn't say that the ending of this chapter wasn't going to** ** _not_** **be a cliffhanger. Now I'm just gonna laugh at you all for thinking it was.**

 **Ha.**

 **Hahahahahahaha.**

 **Okay. I promise the next chapter all you'll get is answers, (and maybe questions!) but just review and tell me what you think about the story so far, okay? :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Okay. Here goes nothing.**

[Scarlett's POV]

"It's a prophecy!" Nea's voice came out in nearly a whisper.

I read the piece of paper over again, afraid that I might miss information, but it was still the same. It read,

 _Unconceal to find, just to let all shine_

 _To burn or to turn the future upside down_

 _And light the path in nothing but dark_

 _Wash the pain away, but choose the wrong way_

 _Rock and stone is carved, truth is known_

 _The Mist is blown and all shall be shown_

"Oh," I heard someone say.

"That definitely doesn't sound anything at all nice," I stated.

Nea nodded in agreement.

"When did you find this paper?" Red questioned me. We all stared at him.

"Obviously, when I was putting the Diamond in my pocket," I said.

"Guys, I think someone's coming. We better hide," Nea said quietly.

We slipped behind a few pillars, just to see Pitcher grumbling about 'stealing valuables', 'being rich' and 'curing the world'.

I mentally grinned. This was going to be so fun when-

When-

Pitcher was looking in my direction.

My stomach did a somersault as I bit my lip so that I wouldn't accidentally make any sounds. I shoved my hand into my pocket, desperately hoping the Diamond would hide me. And possibly the rest of my friends. I totally did not expect this to happen. I just hoped it would work.

Pitcher was looking at me, but not saying anything. He made eye contact with me, but turned away quickly, mumbling something under his breath that suspiciously sounded like, "They are probably using the Diamond to hide. But they wouldn't find it out so easily, right? I swear someone was there using the Diamond."

He turned around quickly again, and strode towards where I was. That was when the most strange thing happened. He put his hand forward, as if to touch me, but his hand just went right through me.

I did a sudden gasp of horrified surprise and stepped back, but he didn't hear that too. He just angrily paced back and forth behind the pillar that I was hiding beside. I strained my ears to hear what he was saying.

"Unconceal and we can find, let what we see shine," Pitcher repeated, but unable to get the Diamond. I felt my pocket. The Diamond was still there, unresponsive to Pitcher.

I silently moved over to Marius, Red and Nea. I stopped the Diamond's power from working on me, and they looked stunned when I appeared. I pointed at Pitcher who still hadn't noticed anyone and asked them to follow me.

"I just found out how to use the Diamond," I said as I slowly broke the news to them. I related how Pitcher had not noticed me and how he was trying to summon the Diamond then. They all stared at me in awed silence, and it was the first time they actually listened to me.

Marius broke the silence saying, "That's really cool! It actually works?"

"Yeah," I confirmed.

"I think that's enough for a day," Nea suggested. "Let's just go have a break. We can go up the other buildings to rest. At least, as I realised, the zombies only come out during the night. Scarlett, can you hide us again?"

"Sure," I said, feeling good. Nea actually asked me for once.

We trudged up flights of stairs which had loose screws. I knew there were zombies nearby from the stale stench of rotting meat that was heavy in the air. We had been too busy fighting zombies to notice that, but now it was overwhelming.

We came out of the stairwell once everyone agreed that they couldn't take the stench anymore. Breathing in the dusty air, which smelled much better than the one in the stairwell, I made sure the Diamond was safely in my pocket before zipping it and lying down to rest.

"Don't worry, I'll take first watch," Marius said.

I lay my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes.

[Marius' POV]

The Diamond seemed pretty interesting enough. It had pretty much whatever I wanted - concealment. If I learnt how to use it, I could easily sneak around anywhere, do anything… The possibilities were endless.

 _Just this once_ , I promised myself.

I carefully undid the zip on Scarlett's pocket and slipped the diamond out, without waking her. Then, I zipped it shut again. Hoping that she was in a deep sleep, I eased her head onto the wall and turned my eyes to the diamond that was in my hand.

As I looked closely at the diamond, I realised that other than it being perfect and flawless, there was a light blue tinge to it. The Diamond emanated a warm blue glow on the surrounding walls when I put it under the light.

Smiling to myself, I shoved the Diamond into my pocket and used its power. Testing to make sure that it was really working, I nudged Scarlett. My hand went right through her. It worked.

I hefted my pack onto my shoulder and went down the stairs. I would be finding the Diamonds by myself now. I was sure that they, as a team, would not work out.

I came to the landing on the first floor. _Where should I go first?_ I asked myself, but it was easy.

In the prophecy, the first line was about the Diamond of Concealment, which was the first Diamond we found. It was easy. The second line would be the second Diamond that we were going to find.

I corrected myself. It would be the second Diamond _I_ was going to find. The Diamond of Fire.

Pretty strange name, isn't it? But the dream hinted that when all six Diamonds were brought together under the 'Light', something would happen. And by that 'something', I didn't know what it was.

Now, where could I find Fire? I decided I had to get close to fire to find the Diamond. My eyes found a building that was in better condition than others, but most of all, it seemed to be a housing building. There would surely be kitchens and gas.

There would surely be fire.

Hurrying over snow was not easy. I had noticed the snow getting deeper, but there was no time to think about that. I had to think of how to get the Diamond of Fire before anyone else. I was sure Scarlett, Red or Nea would be faster than Pitcher and his team.

I looked back with a sudden realisation that my footprints were showing. I stopped. They might have woken up, realised I was gone, realised that their Diamond was gone too, and they would look out of the window and see the tracks I had left…

 _Please, hide me…_ I hoped as I gripped the Diamond in between my fingers. The footprints disappeared. _Okay, thanks, whoever did that._

I swung open the door of the nearest house and searched the house. I took a jacket and more water. Then, I went to the kitchen and found a few unused birthday candles and a lighter.

 _That'll work_ , I told myself as I lighted the candle. There was no wind in the house, but it seemed to be blowing in a certain direction. When I shifted my body to block the supposed wind, it still slanted the same way.

 _That must be the direction of the Diamond of Fire_ , I told myself.

I left the house and followed it.

 **Heyya guys who are reading this, can you just review on what you think of the prophecy and what you think of Marius leaving them or anything? Okay thanks :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Ta-da it's done!**

[Scarlett's POV]

I tried pushing myself into a sitting position, but I felt hard concrete that my head was lying on. I cracked open my eyes, hoping to see Marius, but he wasn't there.

 _That's so strange_ , I thought to myself. It couldn't possibly be that long since I slept. I confirmed it by seeing Nea and Red still asleep. Marius couldn't have disappeared again, could he?

I shifted my weight when a scary thought suddenly appeared in my mind.

What if when we slept there were zombies and he had decided to go kill them by himself, without telling us? And what if he didn't make it back?

I told myself it was unlikely. We would have already been woken up by the sounds if he did that. Besides, he would surely have bumped me.

Wondering where he went, I shook Nea awake. Maybe she would know what to do.

She rubbed her eyes tiredly and told me, "I never really trusted that guy though."

"Will you just listen to me?" I raised my voice and shook her more to make sure she was thinking properly. "Marius freaking left! He left us without even telling anyone, not even me!"

"Okay, can you wait for just a while?" She said, annoyed. Then, she stiffened. "Have you checked if you still have the Diamond? I might just be being paranoid, but-"

I shoved my hand into my pocket. _He couldn't have taken it, could he? He wouldn't do such a thing so self-centred_ , I thought, but as I unzipped it and felt around my pocket, there was nothing in it except the piece of paper that the prophecy was written on.

"It isn't there!" I gasped.

"I told you! You shouldn't have trusted him anyway. Caring for him so much in the mall, right?" Nea smirked. "No erasing that now."

"Oh seriously, that's over. This is real. He might have taken it too when he left," I said.

"It's not 'might'," she corrected. "He did. Not might. But anyway, he's gone now."

"Who's gone now?" I heard Red's voice over to the corner.

"Marius' gone. He took the Diamond and left," Nea told him.

"I'm so - going to - _kill_ \- that guy!" Red cursed loudly.

"The most logical thing to do right now, is to find the next Diamond, and the next, et cetera. And when we find all, we summon the power of the Diamond of Concealment, and done! We've got everything," Nea said as if nothing happened.

"And the next one is the Diamond of Fire. 'To burn or to turn the future upside down'," I quoted the prophecy. "Doesn't sound nice."

"Prophecies don't usually sound nice. If they do, there's probably a catch," Nea said.

"Guys, stop changing the topic!" Red said, irritated. "Will you just say what we do to get the next Diamond or not?"

"The Diamond of Fire warms up pretty much everything. To find it, I guess we have to get to a warmer place. Does anyone have a thermometer here?"

"No, but I'm sure that," Red pointed at a building not too far away from the one we were in, "that building would have at least one that works."

I managed a smile and agreed instantly. We took our packs and went slowly against the wind into the building. I rummaged through drawers and cupboards until I found a thermometer that could work. Fastening it onto my belt, I found matches. It could do something too.

All three of us met outside the building. I held the thermometer in front of me as the icy wind blew against me. We pulled our jackets tighter around us and continued.

Suddenly, after a while of walking, I heard Nea exclaim, "It went up!"

We hurried forward, excited to find the Diamond of Fire. _Surely now_ , I told myself, _this would turn out easier than anything else?_

As we walked, the temperature increased faster and faster. Soon, we were sweating in our jackets from the heat we had generated through walking.

"The Diamond of Fire might be near," I said.

We stopped at a patch of green grass. It wasn't more than five metres wide, but it was peculiar to be in this vast snowland.

Nea checked the thermometer again and said, "26 degrees. As hot as something might be here."

Then, the grass patch in front of us burst into flames. It curled gently upwards, its grey smoke getting lost in the white surrounding snow. As I tried to blow the fire out, a sudden wind blew it at me, but I didn't get burnt.

Excitedly, I reached into the ground and pulled out a diamond the same size as the Diamond of Concealment. It was red and orange. I wanted to take a look closer but it was still smoking hot.

I dropped it into the snow, but it didn't melt a hole. Instead it disappeared in mid-air and Marius appeared next to me.

Acting as if I hadn't seen him, he picked up the Diamond of Fire and strode away.

 _What on earth is happening?_ My mind screamed at me. I just stared at his back for a while before my mouth hung open. Did he really not see us? Why did he want the Diamonds so much? He was going to be so doomed like Pitcher.

[Marius' POV]

I had just found the second Diamond. And they had helped me without knowing. That was so easy. Now it was time to go to the third Diamond.

The Diamond of Light.

One that would shine through all the darkness.

I stepped on the snow with light footsteps, happy that I had found the second Diamond easily. The third one would be no problem I hope.

"Marius," a voice behind me said. I felt a cold blade resting on my shoulder. However, this was not Pitcher. The voice was female. Who could it be? I stopped in my tracks.

"Stealing from us like that, in plain daylight," the voice stated. There was only one person I knew who talked like that. Nea.

How could she have found me? I had been using the Diamond of Concealment all along as I took the second one from them. Afraid to show fear, I dug out both Diamonds and rested them on my hand. Then, I turned my hand and the Diamonds fell onto the snow.

The knife still rested on my shoulder, while another hand picked the Diamonds up. I slanted my eyes and saw Red sending a nod to Nea. The knife slid off my shoulder.

"Goodbye, Marius," Nea said, and as I turned, I saw Red and her walk away from me, with the Diamonds in their possession. In the middle of their way, Nea let the knife slide off her fingers. _This_ definitely _turned out well_ , I thought to myself and picked up the knife.

They knew. And they would be careful. I had lost the Diamonds to them.

Striding over to the nearest building, I sat down, leaning against a wall. I couldn't beat them to the next Diamond, but I could do one thing - find the fourth one first, so that I could be faster than them.

 **Whew that was fast :) but since you got the privilege of getting this chapter early, you'll have to wait a little longer for the next one.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Answers? Or maybe questions instead... :D**

[Redford's POV]

Everyone was quite unexpected while it happened. I had noticed that Nea had quite a dark side to her, and Scarlett could get really shocked and not know what to do. I did not expect Marius to betray everyone, just to get all the Diamonds. He was becoming like Pitcher - wanting the Diamonds so bad.

I just couldn't believe it when Nea said she had a 'plan' when Marius was starting to leave. It didn't seem like a good one, but apparently it worked quite effectively. I thought of Nea as those kind of people who was neutral at everything, but now I knew she could be quite unnerving too.

As I felt the Diamonds in my fingers, I thought about Marius. What could he be doing now? It wasn't like I wanted him to get the Diamonds, though. I was actually happy that his hard work didn't pay off - just because he was too careless. He had missed out on the dream.

In the dream, someone had warned us that bringing two or more Diamonds together cancels out both powers, unless all the Diamonds are together, then a great power - one that would change the world - would be unleashed.

Those Diamonds we were trying to find now were those that was stated in the dream. It was slightly exciting to anticipate this 'great power' that would change the world, bit I just hoped that in the 'new world', people would realise every consequence that came with action and think their choices again.

"We'll have to be faster than him," Nea said. "We have to skip the dreams this time. Now, he would already be searching for the Diamond of Light."

"How about," Scarlett said, "We just take a little rest first. Think of what we should do. Then, we get the third, and then the fourth, et cetera."

"Isn't light what we see every day? It could be anywhere. Where do we even look first?" I asked.

"We don't have to find it when there's light everywhere, you know. We can do it in the night," Nea said.

"But there'll be those zombie-things. And I'm quite sure that we don't want them on our heels every time," Scarlett said.

That was true. The last time we had incidences with the zombies - we were so close to death. And now Nea was trying to make us find the third Diamond in the middle of the night? She was so impossible.

"Yeah. Doing it in the night is completely insane," I agreed.

"We should find it now," I decided on the spot after no one said anything. "We go somewhere dark, and basically it would shine."

"So where can we find 'somewhere dark'? Most of the buildings here are kinda smashed, if you didn't notice."

"We go to that one," I pointed at a building where its lower levels were quite intact and had no windows.

"Oh, it must be quite dark in there," Nea stated as she noticed it. "Let's go then."

In the building, it was nothing I had expected.

There were steps everywhere, and it was hard to navigate. And, it was darker than I had thought. No light seeped into it through and cracks, and it was deathly silent, like the building itself was holding its breath.

Our steps resonated everywhere, and every stairwell we encountered echoed any sounds we made, giving it a ghostly atmosphere.

"Where are we supposed to find light?" asked Nea in the darkness.

A scratching sound. Scarlett struck a match. The fire glowed brightly as it cast shadows on the wall. There were carvings, like an ancient Egyptian tomb.

"Come on!" Scarlett said as she led us down the stairs. We came to a stone door carved into the wall, but it was glowing strangely in the dark.

"Oh, come on, for all you know it could be those ancient kings' tombs and their ghosts would haunt us," I said, but I wasn't excited to leave. It felt somehow - comfortable - in this place. Deep down underground, I felt close to home.

Even better, I felt my senses were sharper. More awake, despite the little rest we had. I could actually sense the Diamond of Light, and its power was strong. And I could tell that the diamond was behind the stone door.

"How do we open this? There's no keyhole or anything," Scarlett said.

"Can you see this?" Nea said as she ran her finger along the bumps and cracks, where the light was emitting from.

Around it, in a circle, was scribbles. I had not read anything since I entered the Glade, and I only knew that I had dyslexia. The words overlapped and swam around each other. It made something that was totally foreign, not English, but I found that I could understand it.

It was Ancient Greek, carved into the stone. Somehow I knew it read 'the keyhole is on the left'. I felt it. Yes, there was a hole, big enough to put one of those old-fashioned keys into. But we didn't have any key.

Nea seemed to realise this too, and scratched her head on what we should do.

"How do those ancient keys work?"

"They lift a latch in the door. Do you have any wire?"

I brought out some twist-tie wire.

"That works too," she said.

"Wait, you mean we're gonna pick that lock?"

"Well, technically yes." She folded the wire into the shape of an old key and inserted it into the keyhole. She jolted the latch a few times, but it didn't open.

Then, she twisted the wire and tried again, and this time a _click_ was heard from the door, and we could easily push it in.

The Diamond was lying on a white marble dais. Even I was surprised how it would have been kept in such a good condition. All of us hesitated to take the Diamond, like we would be cursed when we took it.

"I guess we'll just have to take it?" Nea straightened her hand and took the Diamond in her fingers. Bright light filtered through between her fingers from within. But there was no time to admire it.

The cave was starting to shake, dust falling from the ceiling.

I looked up. "What did you just do?" I asked as I saw cracks spreading across the ceiling. Startled, I started running towards the door, like what Nea and Scarlett did. But I noticed everything.

Nea followed right after me and slipped out of the door just in time, but Scarlett wasn't so lucky. The door slid shut right after Nea went out, and Scarlett's fearful shouts of "No stop!" were diminished into silence.

 **Oops! I think we just lost Scarlett-**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hi. Okay so basically I thought Scarlett's POV (which is this chapter's) would be half the length of what it is now, but since it'll be long if I go with the original plan, I'm just gonna put this here first. And for those of you who are waiting for Marius' POV, I'm sorry, but it would only be out after all the cave junk in this chapter** **and probably the next!**

[Scarlett's POV]

The door slid shut before me. From inside, there was no keyhole or latch to lift. I was locked in, and the pitch dark around me was not helping. It was making it much worse. For all I knew, there would be anything, _anything_ around me.

I felt for the matchbox. I slid it open, and realised that there were only three matches left. Gingerly, I picked one and struck it. I was lucky. The top burst into flames, and I felt for a candle I had taken from the house.

I lit it, and putting the rest of the match into the flame, I decided to continue my way - the only way, which was to go into the tunnel.

I slid the knife Nea had given me out of my pack. It was the only weapon I had, but I hoped I wouldn't have to use it. The tunnel seemed to go on forever, growing smaller and smaller into a dark void, like a black hole in the middle of an eye.

Keeping my hand on the wall to make sure I wouldn't get lost, I scanned my surroundings, but I could find no way out.

 _But if there's a tunnel, surely there must be an end?_ The logical side of me told me. I continued forward.

I suddenly noticed crunching sounds coming from under my feet. Shocked, I turned to look at what I was stepping on. I gasped.

Bones - skulls and skeletons - were littering the floor. With a sickening feeling, I realised I had crushed many bones trying to get to where I was now. I wondered what had happened to them when they got here. Would I meet my fate the same way they did?

I was determined not to end the same way they did, although at the back of my mind, I knew they probably thought the same thing.

Trying to ignore the disgusting sound of cracking bones and to concentrate on my current task of finding out what was at the end of the tunnel, I avoided most of the skulls. I wondered what Nea and Red were doing now. Would they help me or leave me to rot like the other people who died?

The end was nearing. The dark circle grew bigger, and I could almost make out the outline of a sewage pipe running along its walls. Under the pipes was where the number of bones suddenly decreased. There was probably a trap. I had to be careful.

I was just lucky to have thought that. I immediately took in everything around me. I was stepping on a pressure plate. The moment I move, I die.

I jumped backwards, releasing the pressure on it as I saw two identical knives shoot out from two holes in the walls, spinning, crossing each other at the point I would have been if I hadn't noticed. They were heading for a perfectly-aligned hole, but before they slipped in, I grabbed one.

That was such a big mistake. To think that they wouldn't have sensors in the hole. An acid shout out, but not at me. It aimed for the blade, as it disintegrated the whole knife into a puddle of gunk.

If two traps were activated, all of them could have been too. And who knew if they were currently sucking out the air in the tunnel so my insides would explode?

 _Stop being so paranoid_ , I told myself. They - whoever built this - probably didn't have the technology to do that. But the thought of how the other people died still disturbed me.

I felt for the wall to steady me, but it suddenly was not there. Instead, there was just cold dank air and I almost lost my balance. The light from the candle I was holding was not brought enough to light up the whole room. Surprisingly, there were no bones on the ground. I stepped away from the tunnel into the room.

A loud grinding sound was heard from both sides of the wall. Both walls started moving towards the centre, towards me. I looked down just to realise that there was a fine dust at my feet.

Then I realised a little too late.

There was nothing left on this side of the tunnel. The two moving walls were blowing my candle out. I ran forward, knowing that there was something at the end of the room and that I had to get there.

There were three metres left but there was no space for me to stretch out my arms.

There were two metres left but the walls were going to touch my shoulders.

There was one metre left and I had to run sideways. But I was out in the end. My candle was blown out.

I struck the second match. There would be one match more. The flame flickered dangerously before steadying itself.

In the silence, I heard water, like from a fountain, or trickling down a surface. _I hadn't walked for very long, so I mightn't be so deep right?_ I thought, but I couldn't stop thinking that it might be groundwater.

I followed the sound into long winding tunnels. The ground became softer under my feet as my shoes squelched on the muddy floor. As I looked around me, I realised the walls looked wet and smooth, like water had been running down them forever.

Like a cave. The water left tracks and darker minerals on the walls. It made strange patterns, otherworldly, and strange. As I looked around, supports seemed to stick out of the walls.

Wood and metal beams fitted onto each other with triangular supports. Steel bumps on the ground and strings hanging overhead. With a start, I realised I was in a mineshaft.

I was standing on a minecart track, derailed minecarts flipped over on the sides of the tracks. I wondered who would actually be mining in a place like this, but I decided not to question it. Someone had been finding something. Like something precious. The Diamonds.

The might have been looking for the diamonds. I had noticed unmined ores on the ground, but no one wanted them. Hollowed-out holes were left accompanied by unwanted pickaxes.

I walked on. I knew these people had not found the Diamond they were looking for, but knew it was here. _I could find it_ , I told myself. The water sound was louder now. Suddenly answers were pieced together. They were finding the Diamond of Water. And I stood in front of some water in the cave.

The water was crystal clear, the candlelight reflecting serenely off its surface. My hand broke the water's surface and submerged into the cold water, and it felt so relaxing. I stirred the water with my hand.

My hand had not touched the bottom of it, but my fingers brushed against a hard object. I looked closely, and realised it was the Diamond. The Diamond glittered softly in the dark. I plucked it out of the stone it was embedded in, and took it out of the water.

I stood up and clasped it in my hand, but that was not all. In front of me, there were four tunnels. I didn't know which one to pick. Where I went would be reliant on what I choose, and I did not know where.

I took a deep breath and walked into the fourth one.

 **I really like this part okay, but just to be evil to all of you Scarlett might not have a POV in the next chapter. :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**Here's a chapter after the long wait! I'm sorry the next chapter isn't done yet, and it would most probably not be up tomorrow either. So don't read this chapter so fast! Because it's the only one you have right now...right?**

[Nea's POV]

I ran up the stairs, finding another way to get down to where the Diamond of Light had been. I held the Diamond between my fingers, and it cast a white glow on all the walls. It was much brighter than any fire I had seen, and definitely more beautiful.

Red had seemed troubled right after the door had locked Scarlett in, but after I convinced him that I knew what I was doing (which I was totally lying, about), he seemed to calm down a little bit more. But by just a little bit.

I knew something like that would always happen. Every time we found something, surely _some_ annoying - or even scary - thing would happen, and we just can't continue.

And now it was Scarlett. Hell, she was quite useful when it came to finding the Diamonds. She had found the first one, and was also the first to find out how to use it. Now, without her, we just couldn't do anything. After all, finding her was the least we could do.

I wished I had a watch of sorts. I didn't know how long we were in this dark building. The Diamond of Light made it seem like it was daytime, but I doubted it. It felt like we had been here for hours.

"Can you hear that?" Red broke the silence.

"Hear what?" I said, but I stopped to listen. There was a soft scuttling noise, like rat feet on the concrete. "That's...disgusting."

But that wasn't all. I noticed the sound getting louder, and I was sure it definitely wasn't a rat. Nor was it many rats. Something bigger, something more…scary.

At that point, a thick black stick poked out of the wall. The cracks grew, and I was scared that the building might collapse on top of us. But that wasn't the point.

A second black stick poked out, and then a third. Then a round head poked out of the wall. With that, I screamed, "OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT-"

There was a spider in the room. But not those normal ones - it was _huge_ , even bigger than five times of me. Its sharp legs were digging into the ground as it advanced in us.

I could feel my knees shaking and my hands turning cold but I couldn't do anything to stop them. I closed my eyes shut and turned away from it, like it couldn't see me if I didn't see it. But that was the biggest mistake I had ever made.

The next moment, I was in the air. Then I was thrown onto a wall and fell on the ground. You might just say I was imagining things, and I was hoping so badly I was. But if this was a dream, it simply was keeping me in. I just had to survive.

I rolled onto my side, trying to ignore the severe pain shooting up my arm from my wrist. There was a bump on it, and I was quite sure I had dislocated my wrist. But after a few seconds, it popped back into place, but the pain was still enough to make me cringe.

At the corner of my eye, I saw Red. He seemed quite... _calm_...when facing the spider although he was moving quickly. Suddenly everything seemed alright when he was around. I noticed him managing homself quite well, and always got out of sticky situations.

But that feeling didn't last long. Red somehow managed to get out of the view of the spider and it was facing me instead. I pushed myself off the floor with my better hand and stepped back.

And right after that, big mistake number two happened. I tripped backwards into the staircase which was going downwards. I landed on my butt on the landing, and the only thing I had in my hand was the remainder of some knives I had taken from the building.

The spider's big eyes stared at me like it was thinking what would be the most painful way to finish me off.

"Nea, hang on!" I heard Red's shout from somewhere behind the spider. But this time, I was sure he couldn't do anything. Rolling out of the way, I scrambled into a half-kneeling, half-squatting position and took aim with my knives.

The first one missed way off. I realised it would be no use to throw the knives, so I got up on my feet and ran straight at the spider, and hoping it was confused enough to stop making those scary clitter-clack noises, I embedded the knife into its mouth.

That goo was gross. Like really _gross_. It was brownish-yellow, and it spilled out of the wound, oozing between the bumps on its cracked exoskeleton.

"Totally made much sense," I panted, my heart still palpitating from the sight of the spider. Dead or not, it was equally scary, but at least this time, it didn't move.

"I guess you don't need to, then," called Red from the other side of the room.

"Don't wanna say anything," I shrugged, "Let's go find Scarlett."

We stepped over the carcass of the gigantic dead spider, mostly Red trying to pull me across, and we continued down the stairs.

[Redford's POV]

I could feel Nea was still jittery from the spider attack, as she was squeezing my hand really tightly, her hands were ice cold, and they were shaking. I tried to calm her down, but it didn't work until we were some distance away from where we came from.

The place was bigger than I had expected. The winding staircases took us deeper into the ground, but nowhere nearer to the doors. Instead, I thought they were bringing us further away. We came to an empty room, where we sat down to take a break.

"What's this?" Nea asked quietly. She was fingering a blue leather bracelet on my right hand. I looked at it sadly.

"From my parents. But I never knew them," I said.

"The only thing I remembered was my dad…he was whispering something about 'helping out', 'saving the world' and 'might die'," Nea said. I guessed her father was referencing to the dangers that would come our way like the spider.

I leaned my head against the dusty wall. I wanted to know who my parents were. But I felt that they probably were like those zombies - not thinking, maybe if they met me they wouldn't even know I was their son.

I listened to her breaths, the soft inhale and exhale pattern. It was so calming. And so ironic that we had been chased by a giant spider, tons of zombies, lost two friends, and almost died millions of times.

"You know what I used to do, back in the Glade?" She broke the silence. "I used to braid the long grass into a friend's hair, and she would do it for me too."

I could feel that she was clinging onto the past. She was unable to forget it, to move on. But I could feel what the joys were in the Glade. I liked to delay the runners, and always got ranted about, but those were just fun.

My eyes were getting heavy, but I forced them open, thinking of things to keep me awake. But I didn't need to a few seconds later.

"Yeah, that _certainly_ sounds like _real_ fun," a voice behind me drawled.

 **Ooh! Nice cliffy! But I'm just gonna say that the next chapter -SPOILER ALERT!- has a lot, like** ** _a lot_** **of answers that you need. And be sure not to miss that one!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Oo-kay here's today's update :)**

[Marius' POV]

I could have been considered the luckiest person on Earth. Literally. Everything went my way after Nea and Red left me. Pitcher found me, but that's not the point. I managed to convince him to tell me _everything_. Somehow.

" _So, Pitcher, do we have a deal? I'll tell you what happened, and you tell me who they are and why they're so important," I said._

" _Deal!" Pitcher said without hesitating._

 _We walked to a table in the house not too far away from where I was._

" _You start," he said._

 _There was nothing wrong with that, and I couldn't see any catch in what he said. So I started, "They found two Diamonds, the ones of Concealment and Fire."_

 _I had to keep the prophecy away from Pitcher. Or things would turn bad. But I was sure that he didn't know anything about a prophecy, until he asked, "Is the paper in Scarlett's pocket part of whatever junk you're doing?"_

" _The paper," I paused as I thought about what to say next, "is a note from another Glader she met in the safehouse."_

" _Why did she seem so shocked, then?"_

" _Because the ink ran and she couldn't read it," I mentally cringed. That reason was_ so _lame. Pitcher would have surely noticed something, but I forced myself not to show any emotion on my face._

 _Pitcher nodded, believing what I said. I inwardly smiled. He made the action that said,_ Continue _._

" _And they went towards that house," I pointed in the direction of it, "And that's where they disappeared." I tried to feign slight sadness._

" _My turn," Pitcher said. "All the kids in the safehouse are demigods. Half god, half mortal. You are, too. But no different are Nea, Red, Scarlett… Different godly parents, they have. But still demigods."_

" _Then who are their godly parents?" I asked. This was an interesting topic._

" _Yours is Aphrodite. Nea's is Athena. Red's the son of Hades and Scarlett's daughter of Zeus."_

 _I sat back into the chair, letting the information sink in. But Pitcher didn't seem like he was done._

" _Why I wanted you four as the first batch to find the Diamonds was because the combination of people was...well, the worst. You were unlikely to work out together. So when I knew what you people would do out there, it gives me a better gauge."_

" _You wanted all these to happen, and it was all just an act?"_

" _No. It was, but only until you realised how to find the Diamonds. I never expected all to happen so quickly. I just guessed…"_

 _I wasn't listening anymore. I was walking towards the door, my head turned in the direction of the building I had seen them going into, my feet breaking into a jog. It was like a dream. Everything was suddenly changed from misty and blur into crystal clear._

Nea was holding a knife pointing in my direction, her hand shaking, but I knew it was probably more deadly than it looked. She had shoved me once - and elbowed me where it stayed painful until I slept. Red just stood there like he was expecting me to do something first.

"Drop the knife," I said. It came out harsher than I meant for it to be, but it worked. The knife clattered uselessly onto the ground.

"Wait, what did you just do?" She questioned.

I forced my mouth into a wry smile. "That is called charmspeak. Pitcher has told me all about you. But first, don't we _all_ wanna find Scarlett?"

I waited for them to answer. But Nea looked at me mistrustingly as she wondered if I charmspoke her again.

"Okay," she said.

I led them towards another tunnel that was in the same room, and we turned up in another room.

"That's the door we came from," Red said, pointing at a tall stone opposite where we were standing.

How could they even call this big slab of stone a 'door'? They were really nuts. Must have been some zombie attack that caused this, but I decided to let the matter drop.

A scraping sound and all of us turned sharply to face wherever it came from. Another tunnel. I was sure that there was something in it, but Nea was already going towards it, her knife raised, ready to stab anything that came out of it. Red followed cautiously, but there was nothing. It was probably some rats.

"Use the Diamond," Red told Nea. She looked against it but took it out anyway. I had thought it would be the Diamond of Fire, but it was not. They had made progress. The Diamond she was holding was the Diamond of Light. Bright light emitted from its core and casted its glow on the whole room. Then I realised with horror - the ground was made of grounded bones.

They seemed to notice it too. They lifted their feet cautiously, looking around for imminent danger, but finding nothing.

"They must've been really blur, didn't see the exit and all," I said, looking towards the tunnel we came in from.

Nea turned towards it too, and said, "I think the exit's really blur, forgetting that we're still in here."

There was only one way we could go, and we had to do it fast. The cave might not let us linger, so I motioned to them before walking into the longer tunnel.

Wetness. The first thing I noticed when I walked into the tunnel. The ground was squelching at my shoes when I stepped in. Then I noticed that the walls was covered with a thick layer of cobwebs, like it was never touched in a very long time. The others followed beside me, and I casted a huge shadow onto the cobwebbed walls.

We treaded carefully through the tunnel, placing our feet in between skulls and bones. Nea warned us about levers and bumps on the floor that could activate traps, and not to kick them into 'on' position, but there were none. Just normal squelchy ground until I realised I was standing on dry ground.

"DUCK!" Red shouted at me when I was still standing.

Two knives were shot from the sides of the tunnel, which crossed each other in an 'X' above our heads, before clattering into an aligned drain.

I looked around for signs of Scarlett. There were none. But there was an unused match on the ground, like it dropped from the matchbox. It was new, like it had been recently dropped. I picked it up and held it up.

"Guys, do you think Scarlett dropped this?" I asked.

"She must have been here. We're on the right tracks," Nea said and stood up away from the pressure plates. "Unless…she activated more traps which blocks us from getting to her."

 **Okay! Secret's out! Review on what you think about this chapter? Because what _may_ happen next might complicate things... But of course I won't spoil it for you, right?**


	14. Chapter 14

**Yaaayyy the next chapter is out! :) But the main A/N will be at the end so it won't delay your waiting. :))))**

[Nea's POV]

I pulled out a crumpled sheet of paper I had found in the mineshaft. It had a list of the Hidden Diamonds, but in a different order from the prophecy. It was Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, Light then Concealment. We had already found the last four, but there were ticks beside the first two. Earth and Wind. We hadn't found those yet.

I placed the paper on the table and everyone stared at it.

"What do those mean?" Marius said as he pointed at the ticks beside 'Earth' and 'Wind'. Does that mean he found them?

"Obviously he can't find them, Mary. He's mortal. He can't use the Diamonds, and obviously he won't know where they are," I said.

"And that's where you're wrong," He said. "Just a while ago I was talking to him. And he told me _a lot_. And one of the secrets he leaked - was that he wasn't a mortal. Meaning he can find the Diamonds, use them. And that explains why the Diamonds are so valuable to him!"

"Not a mortal as in…" Scarlett trailed off.

"Son of Hermes. That sure complicates things a lot more, right? He's found them. The last two. And it's unlikely he'll pass them back," Marius finished.

"How typical, but that's not it," I said. "What we 'found out", when we think we're one step ahead of him - it's probably meant to be. And one day if we continue like this we'll walk into a trap thinking we set the trap for him."

"And the only way is to steal the Diamonds from him?" Marius asked. "Is there any other way that doesn't involve all of us getting killed?"

"Well, about that, we could summon the Diamonds. Think that'll work?" Scarlett started.

"No," Red said with a monotonous voice.

"Actually," Marius said again, "he'll keep them somewhere anti-magic. And it's obvious where we have to go."

"Where?" We all said simultaneously.

"Back to the safehouse. The others are demigods too. Back there, he has almost everything. It's likely he'll keep the Diamonds there too."

"And if it's not there? And if they found us out?" I said.

"Then we'll think about that later. We go to the safehouse first thing tomorrow." That caused several random objections from me about 'snow' and 'distance' but they went anyway, so I had to follow. Not like I wanted to stay in this dusty house for I didn't even know how long.

There didn't seem to have any zombies nearby, so I took first watch. Since we ran out of the safehouse, the zombies _always_ attacked us at night. It wasn't like I wanted to kill them while the others were sleeping, but now, since we were in a house and the zombies were outside, I figured there was less chance of them attacking us.

~Time Skip~

We walked back the way we came, like going so far was for nothing. Soon we would be back in the safehouse, like everything that happened was a lie. And when we were in, I would unconceal everyone, to search our own corner and wait for the signal if anyone found anything.

The safehouse was in sight now. We thought we could walk through the door like how people could go through us, but it all ended as our shoes knocked against it with a metallic thud. We walked round the edges of the safehouse, but it seemed that this was the only way in.

"There's only one guard at the door. Just press the button and unconceal me," Marius said. I did what he said, and I saw him walking over to the screen where a webcam sat on.

"Uh, can you let us in?" he told the guard in the safehouse. I knew he was charmspeaking the guard, because no one in a sane mind would let us in, especially when Pitcher wanted us so bad.

I was thinking that the guard would figure out that he was charmspeaking him, but the doors were opened.

 _That's a trap! The whole thing is a trap!_ My mind shouted at me, but I continued into the safehouse. Soon, when we got to somewhere we could blend in, I would unconceal them.

"Here's the plan. Each of us takes one quadrant. When we see something that might be what Pitcher uses to hide the Diamonds, or if you've found them, activate the fire alarms and Scarlett, you're holding the Diamond of Fire, set whatever that is on fire. We go there, and we check it out," I said. "If we screw up, we're dead. I'll take the part by the door."

"I'm taking the part beside the pipes," Red said.

"I'll go to the stores," Scarlett said.

"Seriously? Do I _have_ to search the part that's most guarded?" Marius complained. We all looked at the ledge in the second level where guards were standing.

"Yeah," I nodded and grinned. "You'll have no trouble there… I think."

We did our last-minute discussions, then we went off towards where we were supposed to find. I crept behind some boxes which were piled really high and was good for hiding, before checking out the little buttons and knobs beside the door.

[Marius' POV]

I climbed up the metal stairs leading to the controls. I was vaguely aware of my shoes clanging against the metal as I stepped into it. Some part of me told me that the person who let us in was Pitcher, and he would be in the control room, and he would find me…

But my brain was saying, _No, that won't happen. The guard would have been too smart. If you could trick him, you can trick Pitcher too._

My left foot reached the top of the staircase. I glanced to the other end of the safehouse, and saw Scarlett entering a storeroom. No one was near, and no one seemed to notice her as well. _Lucky_ , I thought.

I paused before pulling the door open. _I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!_ My brain was shouting at me to turn around and run down the way I came, but I couldn't. Not now. He already knew I was here. What use would running be?

Pitcher smiled. I tried to keep myself from looking too stiff. I tilted my head to the left, trying to look and sound casual, and said, "Hi."

"Seems like you found your way back and we didn't need to do all those finding," Pitcher said, "but I a few requests."

 _This is it! Don't let him get his requests!_ My mind was reeling. I didn't want to hear any more of these riddles that Pitcher talked in, but there was no backing away.

"Okay, wanna let me hear about them?" I said, trying to keep the mood light. But Pitcher was not to be trusted. He probably was already leading me into a trap for all I knew.

"Pass me the Diamonds," Pitcher said harshly after a while and shoved his hand in my face.

 **OOH! Such a big cliffhanger...but the next chapter might take long. Especially when I'm busy with my stuff. Like a pile of schist. So you have time to think of all the possibilities of what's gonna happen in the next chapter...** ** _until we see again_** **.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Okay okay guys here's the next chapter...**

[Marius' POV]

My eyes went cockeye trying to focus on his hand. I remembered the Diamond of Fire they had lent me. Should I pass it to him? _I shouldn't, and just pretend I didn't have it_ , I thought, but I realise he would figure out that the others were in the safehouse too and come finding them.

I was just hoping we had wasted enough time until one of them found the rest of the Diamonds, when it actually _did_ happen. The speakers crackled overhead as I tried to look at Nea without Pitcher looking. She was trying to access the computer, but I couldn't look any longer. Pitcher would soon notice me.

"There's a water leak at the main pipes section," the speakers announced. "It seems quite bad, Pitcher, you'd better get down here real quick."

As Pitcher mumbled a 'don't move' at me, I noticed Red moving swiftly into the crowd of other teenagers, and Nea slipping down from some metal bars. Scarlett came out of the storeroom carrying a box, but when she saw the hallway was empty, she dropped it to the side and walked out.

The first person I met was Nea, who pocketed a screwdriver.

"Look, we're not going to do any screwing. Unless we just _screw_ this all up," I made a bad pun.

She grinned. "You're _nuts_ , I'd better _bolt_ for the exit. Besides, it's survival techniques, " she said.

Both of us laughed when we met Red. He broke our humorous atmosphere by saying, "Guys, it won't work! Whatever we're doing, it won't freaking work!"

"Great, Red. You did it. Just _great_ ," Nea rolled her eyes, her voice full of sarcasm. Scarlett ran into our group soon later.

"The point is that, he won't leave it lying around in safes or boxes. He'll keep it somewhere close. My best guess is his pocket," Red said.

"That's _so_ unsafe," Nea objected with annoyance. "It could just drop out."

"Okay. In the mineshaft, his left hand was always in his pocket. A few minutes before that, he scooped up some small items and put them into the pocket. The Diamonds could be in there."

Nea looked at me again. Seriously? She keeps looking at me like _that_. You know what I mean.

"Dude, you know I can't do it now," I said grudgingly. "He already told me not to move, and I'm quite sure he's already noticed that I'm not where he wants me to be."

"Then say you got curious. Just give all the reasons you can think of. It's easy, isn't it?" Nea said.

"Pitcher's coming. We'd better hide," Red warned.

Nea made a shooing motion at me before following Red into the crowd. _Great,_ I thought, _they just got me into more trouble than I already was in_.

I started towards the stairs, pretending not to hear Pitcher shouting for me to stop. I did that until he held me back, when I turned towards him and said, "I don't have any Diamonds. Go find them yourself."

But Pitcher smiled. Something I had never expected. The most unlikely of things happening. "Actually," he paused, walking over to my side, "I saw what you did at the first floor."

I gulped. Was it time to use Plan B, or could I wait? I knew if this plan failed, I'd have to skip to Plan F - to kill Pitcher which might equate to committing suicide. I decided to delay using Plan B. I would have to wait for the opportune moment. This was not the time.

 _Play along, Marius_ , my brain told me, _do what you always did_. "And you're not doing anything?" I asked, trying to create a seemingly innocent aura.

"You won't like it when I _do something_ ," Pitcher said, the ends of his mouth curling upwards. This wasn't going as planned, and if this was going to continue, I wouldn't like what was happening.

Okay. I hoped they were watching me. If they weren't, I was dead.

 _Don't expect this_ , my mind hoped as I swung my hand out, and whacked Pitcher on the head. Really hard. Once I made sure he fainted, I slipped my hand into his pocket and pulled out the last two Diamonds.

[Redford's POV]

I knew that was coming. From the numerous times Marius glanced away from Pitcher, to the hesitance he had, I could tell he might take Plan B. Once I saw that coming, I activated the Diamond of Concealment and hid all four of us.

I could see Marius running down the stairs, telling us, "I've got them!" I waved to him to hurry up, although there was no one that could see us now. _I thought._

There _was_ people who could see us. In fact, many. The problem with the Diamonds was that once they were brought close to each other, they would disable each other. Right now we had six. If any of them wanted to disable, nothing would work. The chatter of the other demigods in the safehouse died down into a droning whisper.

"Everyone," I heard Marius call above the sound, "Run around!"

I thought that was funny, but I suddenly had an instinctive urge to run in random directions. But I knew it was his charmspeak so I stayed put. That made chaos all right. We took our chance to sneak out of the back door, and climbed the stairs to the roof.

We took out the Diamonds we were holding each. Each of them glowed a different colour. Soon, we would have put them together like a puzzle. Soon, the world would be back to normal…I hope. Then-

 _Bang._

All our heads turned sharply at the sound towards the stairs. Pitcher was standing there, swaying slightly, but his gun was pointed at us. However, he seemed slightly drunk, like he fainted, and he couldn't aim at us.

We were so lucky. I ran straight towards him, and kicked away the gun from his hands once I was in range. Then, I pushed him back and flipped him over the railing. Sixteen-metre drop onto the snow below, leaving a Pitcher-shaped hole in the snow.

I ran back to the others, and they fitted the Diamonds into each other. I wasn't even near them. But the energy from the Diamonds blew all of us back. I felt my body being caught on the railing. Through my half-closed eyelids, I realised I was the luckiest.

The safehouse didn't really have a wall on its top floor, and once the blast was over, the others were trying to hold on onto the bar just before the edge. Then, rolling onto the ground, I saw Nea get up to see what happened to the Diamonds.

"I think they're on the roof," I heard someone not too far away say. Then, running footsteps up the stairs. There was more than one person coming.

 **Right...**

 **Okay. If I said what I had been waiting to say right now, there would be a _huge_ spoiler for the story. So we could always keep it for the next chapter...or maybe the next-next?**


	16. Chapter 16

**HI! I'm sorry I've been holding back this chapter for so long. But now it's here so... Enjoy!**

 **Just a quick reminder: Please read the A/N at the end of the story if you liked the story.**

[Nea's POV]

Three figures appeared at the stairway. They seemed around our age.

"Hi-" one of them started to say.

"No time to talk. We've got to go. They're coming, and if they manage to close our only escape path, we've got to fight them," another cut in.

"Follow us. We need to get you back to camp. And of course, the Diamonds," the third said. He stood at the stairway, not coming to get the Diamonds, but motioning for me to take them with me.

I glanced at Red who appeared to seem like he was going to trust them. _Dude, they might just be Pitcher's minions,_ I wanted to say to him.

Instead all that came out was, "Who are you? And what camp?"

"I'm Luella, daughter of Ares," the only female of the group said. "And by camp, we mean where we came from."

I stared at the wicked-looking sword hanging by her waist.

'Will you _hurry up_!" the girl said impatiently. "And that's _Exafanisi_ , by the way."

"Extinction," I translated. I wasn't even sure why I knew that.

Marius snorted behind me. " _Extra funny_ ," he smirked but stopped after Luella gave him the evil eye.

"So… just follow us and you'll be safe, okay?"

I scooped up the Diamonds on the floor and headed towards the staircase, where they were standing.

"I think we're going with them," I started, but I realised the others were doing the same. They hurried us down the stairs, where Luella yelled profanities at Pitcher.

"Okay guys, time to go," A boy extended his hand in our direction. One by one, each of us demigods grasped it,

I suddenly felt sick for a second, like I blacked out and lost my sense of direction for a moment and it was all back to normal again. Except…we were staring into a green field, with cabins dotting the outer rim of it.

"Welcome to Camp Half Blood," Luella finally said after some hesitation. "Now hurry along or I'll have to dunk your head in the toilets too."

[Luella's POV]

I trudged back to Cabin 5, the familiar rock music blaring inside. I dumped my knives on the table and the other kids in the cabin gave me glares as I pushed through the disorganised cabin. One yelled at me, "Attention whore" before turning back to sharpening their weapons. It wasn't as if I really cared.

I continued back out of the cabin, heading to the sword arena and hopefully be able to whack other campers upside the head. Then head to the dining pavilion for dinner. After all, the day my quest ended, it shouldn't be totally busy with some cussing sibling, right?

That was when everything - the thought of leisurely hacking at stuffed dummies - went wrong. Nea came running up to me, with a rolled-up note in her hand.

"I don't think I'll get any credit from any Hermes camper," she said, "But apparently Chiron the centaur wants you to meet him in the Big House." Her voice had a tinge of uncertainty to it.

I could pretend it was because Camp Half Blood was a totally different place compared to where she was before she came (wherever that was), but I didn't let it slip. I asked, "Any other thing he said?"

"I didn't understand, but he said, 'There are more to the hidden powers in the ground. Not just diamonds. The missing ones now, are items where, when combined, allows the user to have complete control over everything.'" Nea gave me her thinking-very-hard look, but I guessed the meeting was urgent. I took the note and jogged towards the Big House.

"And one more thing," Nea called from behind me. "He says _it_ isn't complete!"

 **Grand A/N:**

 **This is the end of the story. But if you noticed that cliffhanger, you probably know what I'm going to say next. THERE WILL BE A SEQUEL! Yup, you heard that right!**

 **It's going to be a Harry Potter x Percy Jackson crossover. The forms will be on my profile, but don't start submitting yet...at least until the story is up. So...follow me to get the notification when the story is up! And this will be a very interesting episode indeed...**

 **Until we meet again then...**

 **SilverDiamonds :)**


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